Advice Request Are paid Antiviruses better than free ones?

[tim one]

Always remember that no antivirus is invincible, no one detects 100% of malware, sometimes it can happen that the most award-winning AV does not detect malware detected by the latest free AV.
The user is always the first filter between the internet and the computer, against the human weakness no AV can fully help.

 

[Gandalf_The_Grey]

Always remember that no antivirus is invincible, no one detects 100% of malware, sometimes it can happen that the most award-winning AV does not detect malware detected by the latest free AV.
The user is always the first filter between the internet and the computer, against the human weakness no AV can fully help.

A good adblocker like AdGuard or uBlock Origin also helps a lot.

 

[baddogai]

I started preferring paid av after AVAST started to doing pop-ups and ads coz I would rather not deal with the pop-ups and adware bundles. Protection-wise AV like Avira and Avast and WD (although I am not a fan of it personally) offer good enough protection. I will also say that something like Kaspersky IS is totally worth the money.

Also, I somewhat still go by the adage "when the product is free the real product is YOU."

 

[Bleak]

With free you dont need to pay, you pay it with Datamining and No privacy.

It is the other way around, when you pay, you give the company your money PLUS your data.

To OP; if you currently use Avast free as your profile states, then if you pay for avast you won't get anything more other than more bloat, "features" that few would like to use.

If you still need a paid product you may look at the 'top' ones like Kaspersky, Bitdefender, ESET, TrendMicro...
But I personally think that avast free is still capable of providing good protection for free IF you're careful with how you click online.

"when the product is free the real product is YOU."

Can you mention ONE product, that provide free protection that collects data and other paid protection that does not?
Will this saying also apply to something like Linux?

 

[Burrito]

With free you dont need to pay, you pay it with Datamining and No privacy.

Yep.

I used to have a job where I worked with reps of the AV industry. More than one told me that it's an 'open secret' that 'free' is not really free.

Basically, many companies will monetize your usage one way or another.... your anonymized data -- which is spelled out by many EULAs (if you actually took the time to read it), your non-anonymized data, ads...... and mostly you get less protection and no support.

Unless things are pretty tight.... I'd pay.

 

[ForgottenSeer 58943]

I buy everything. It's a karma thing with me, I dislike freeloading. I want to support the development of what I enjoy.

Yes, I even bought Winrar.

 

[oldschool]

...

Free comes in flavors:

1) Really free, full featured, and private. (rare)
2) Free because it's part of something bigger, and they don't care about their free stuff. (Fortinet, Sophos, etc.)
3) Free because it's a launchpad to their better, paid stuff. Expect to be alerted of this. (Voodooshield, Bit Defender Free, etc)...

Agree with the post except point #2: I don't know about Fortinet - but Sophos certainly qualifies as #3, except for the constant nagging. It has email support and is a good, lightweight free AV with an excellent webshield. Sophos is updated as often as their Premium version. But like Bitdefender free it is not a premium product.

 

[baddogai]

Can you mention ONE product, that provide free protection that collects data and other paid protection that does not?
Will this saying also apply to something like Linux?

Just read the whole para and don't single out statements.

And as for Linux and OSS a lot of stuff is run by donations and in case of Ubuntu and Red Hat/Fedora you as desktop user are basically a beta-tester for their server platform. Also you may have remembered Ubuntu sending all your desktop search data to Amazon.

 

[Aznhunt]

I would pay for free AV and I would not want a paid AV

If you wanted to pay for some ads that pop-up when you install the free AV wouldn't that be the same thing as getting a paid AV?

 

[Aznhunt]

1) Really free, full featured, and private. (rare)
4) Free because you have something they want. Usually your data and privacy. (Avast/AVG, almost everything Chinese)

#1 Can you give some examples of "Really free, full featured, and private." without the apps collecting personal data like "Microsoft" that makes it so obvious sometimes.. or is there non?
#4 Uhh... i have Avast Free right now.. so is that bad?

 

[wdhaven]

You already have the best free virus protection on your computer, and this is Windows 10, but you just need to set or configure it better. ConfigureDefender and Hard_Configurator are two free programs that can harden your Windows. No cloud detection can reach Microsoft's (SmartScreen). Basically, you can't say that more expensive is better. Anti-virus software that can be purchased only causes scandals. Last time Avast caused bluescreens during the update. Defender would never do that, because it is perfectly adapted to Windows and is developed by Microsoft itself. That's why I wouldn't pay for an antivirus myself.

Thanks for the I